This blog provides updated forecasts and comments on current weather or other topics

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Air Quality Questionnaire

There is a little mystery going on for the air quality folks...why air pollution hasn't increased more with such a strong inversion. Have people reduced their burning of wood without a burn ban? To help answer this question, they have put together a brief web questionnaire, and if you have a few minutes, please give it a try:

and back to our amazing inversion. It has now slowed it ascent...with the base at around 300 m. (see figure). Visibility noticeable increased today and air quality has begun to decline...particularly over the southern Sound from Seattle to Olympia. A few people took to the hills today...and it was amazing. 66F at the top of Tiger Mountain (2500ft) and nearly 70F at Paradise Ranger Station. The ridge will hold in through the weekend, but will slowly progress eastward on Sunday and Monday. The pressure difference across the Cascades has increased (greater pressure to the east), and this is pushing air westward in the Columbia Gorge....Troutdale, east of Portland, has easterly winds gusting to 40 knots now!

A reminder: I will be signing books (no lecture, but happy to answer question) at the UW Bookstore in Seattle at 1 PM on Saturday. On Wednesday( Jan 21) at 7 PM I will talk about Northwest Snowstorms at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park.

32 comments:

I actually saw some sunshine downtown today, piercing the haze. I was rather amazed, as downtown is often the last place to clear out.

In the fall with low stratus, and sometimes during these inversions, I often leave my place in Crown Hill in clear skies and head downtown to the murk. Today we saw some blue skies briefly between the buildings, but according to my wife it stayed cloudy up here on the hill.

Hope it holds out, because I'm looking forward to breaking through to the other side on Saturday!

All..There have been a few comments, some kind of angry, from individuals unhappy with the terminology I use. Please...this is my blog and let me express myself the way I am comfortable with. If you don't like my wording, please go to another blog or start your own...thanks for understanding...cliff

Tell it how you like, Cliff. If people want weather information without any human opinions attached, they can go buy a text book. Yours would probably be too engaging for them tho - perhaps something else. :) Thanks for the blog.

I'm with you Joe. I think I know what part of the problem might be: Although most of the anonymous posts are legitimate--and often useful (I used this blog to watch spotter reports during our snow event) there are a few posters, myself included once, that sometimes just have one too many cups of coffee. A month ago I got in to a conversation with another person--another anon poster, and suggested something about our weather always regressing to the mean (mild November, cold December, wet, dry). Well, that went over like a lead balloon. So, I post as myself now. That usually does the trick and keeps your posts on topic. But as I said, 95% of the anon messages are just fine.

Anyway, I dropped my copy of Cliff's book off at my 3rd graders class today, with a post it note of the times for the next two book events. There are a couple of budding mets in that class (one of whom still needs to learn her multiplication table fully). Good luck with the blog Cliff. Now, I have a week off from work, and you can be sure that I am heading above the inversion!

I want 70 degrees and sun in January when I can get it! Saves a trip to Hawaii. Why not? It is all good, interesting weather. I'd prefer though, that the climate doesn't change that radically for the long term.

I have learned not to let the state of the weather effect my reality of making something good from it. It is all good. Sure I wouldn’t mind some wind and snow. Sure I wouldn’t mind a deep low lurking off the Vancouver Island coast. But high pressure is no different than low pressure on perception of good feelings. It is all neutral. It isn’t bad. It is all good. We can’t get upset at the sun rising no more than we can get upset at a stubborn high. It’s just what it is. Now some may say ‘What about drought, or flooding, etc” Well what may be detrimental for some could be looked at another angle from another. It’s just what it is. Now, when mankind begins to affect the state of the weather than we can begin to challenge the way of thinking…

Made it up to Anti Airport trailhead on Cougar mountain today. It was upper 40s, sunny, and amazing! Thanks for the tip :) See a picture here: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3337/3201615855_0b004c20da.jpg?v=0and here:http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3327/3201613469_5cdf835090.jpg?v=0

Cliff, this inversion is truly amazing. We're heading for the hills this weekend to experience it. One question about snow conditions. With all of this warm air up high and no new snow falling, might we see some melt that could cause icy conditions on the ski slopes further below? I'm thinking about Whistler in about a week but worried about what it will be like after so many days of this. When the inversion moves on, will there be moisture behind it or do things stay dry for a while? Thanks.

I am at 3500' above Salmon La Sac right now with a little over 4.5-5.5' on the ground depending on exposure. It is solid as cement due to all the rain we got on it. The high today was 34 and as soon as the sun went down it dropped to 29.

We totally agree with Dr. Mass's earlier comments. It is his blog and, as such, he is free to express his observations and opinions. There is always the option of paying some hefty tuition fees to take one of his UW courses and filling out an evaluation form at the end of the quarter.

As for us, we are very much enjoying your blog, Cliff, with its scientific instruction, analytical observations, and personal musings. We appreciate your informative blog and read it daily. Thanks for sharing your expertise in atmospheric sciences with the public.

Just a data aside, out here on Ring Hill, in East Woodinville, today we recorded a high of 34 F under continuous foggy skies. It has not been above 38 F this week, and the high temperature each day is declining.

I went skiing yesterday at Stevens, so I can tell you about the ski conditions right now during the inversion. I would say you can sort of tell that the temp up on top of Tye Mill is warmer than at the base, but only if you already know about the inversion, because there's always a little breeze, so wind chill. There was a high thin layer of clouds that went away during the day; not perfectly clear, but basically sunny. The snow was very icy, hard and scraped off in large patches, intermixed with very grainy piles of snow, so in any one turn you had to handle thick stuff and scraped stuff. Pretty bad snow, I'd say. Not a soul in the trees. The nice thing, though, was the sunshine for once, and also there was hardly any wind, including up on Skyline, which is usually has a brutal wind from the west. Oh, and the other surprise was that I expected the snow to be slushy and mushy like in March, but it was actually pretty icy - I think the sun just doesn't stay on it for long enough. Maybe by March it gets mushy because it doesn't refreeze at night, or maybe just because the day is longer. Oh, and the parking lot was bare ground. But there is plenty of snow coverage on the slopes.

Olalla: mid-high 30's and overcast all day. Woods are drying out nicely. Have yet to convince my sweetie to sample the sun and warmth uphill from here.

The bloomin' nerve of some people, trying to tell you how to write your blog! REmember the old country song, "I'd a wrote you a letter but I couldn't spell (razzzberry)! And that's all I've got to say!"

It has been partly sunny and barely breaking 40 each of the last few days here in Fairhaven. The airport measurements in Bellingham are consistently reporting colder and foggier. It is gorgeous blue sky, bright sun, half-moon setting over the bay. (Sorry, no digi-cam yet) The fog appears to be staying mostly over the water during the day so it is harder to "see" the inversion here. I'll let you know later what the temp is at 1300 ft on Chuckanut Mtn. I must say that as much as I love all weather I especially love these January Sun Days!